IBD spoke with Zillow (NASDAQ:Z) CEO Spencer Rascoff about what he expects from the 2014 real estate market, why his company is pushing rentals and whether we'll soon see a Google Glass app from Zillow.

IBD: What fueled Zillow's growth in 2013?

Rascoff: Mobile is an extraordinary accelerant to our business — 60% to 70% of our usage is now on a mobile device. And we monetize very well on a mobile device, because when a home shopper is out looking for homes, they're highly likely to contact a real estate agent to help them see a house.

The macro trend of increased smartphone penetration benefited Zillow enormously in 2013. We have a lot to be grateful for.

IBD: What new markets do you plan to move into next year?

Rascoff: In 2014, rentals will be a significant focus for us. We're already the largest rentals site on the Web, but we have historically not charged for rental listings and we're shifting gears to start monetizing our rentals marketplace.

In addition, we made a very important acquisition in 2013 by acquiring StreetEasy, the leading online real estate company in New York. And we intend to invest in the StreetEasy product, particularly on mobile, to significantly grow StreetEasy's usage and importance.

IBD: Why focus on rentals?

Rascoff: The Internet has changed consumer behavior around home shopping and rental shopping, because now home shoppers are able to see rental listings and for-sale listings at the same time on the same website or mobile app.

We see a lot more dual-track shopping behavior, where people are looking at for-sale homes and rentals at the same time, so it's critical for a leading sales website to also have a robust rentals website, because so much of your usage is interested in both types of homes.

There's also a significant revenue opportunity in rentals, because property managers, landlords, apartment developers advertise, (and) they pay handsomely to help lease up their available units.

IBD: What do you expect to happen in real estate in 2014?

Rascoff: We think 2014 is going to be a good year for housing. 2013 was a great year for housing. 2014 will be good. That reduction, in the aggregate, is very good. It will mean that hopefully there won't be a hard landing in 2015 or 2016.

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03/18/2015 08:02 AM ET

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